In November of 2015, the Iranian metal duo, Nikan "Siyanor" Khosravi and Arash "Chemical" Ilkhani, were arrested in November of 2015 by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and had some serious charges levied against them: blasphemy, advertising against the system, running an illegal and underground band and record label promoting music considered to be Satanic, writing anti-religious lyrics and granting interviews to forbidden foreign radio stations. At the time, we reported the band faced a maximum penalty of six years in prison, or worse, execution. Very little was public about the case at the time.

Today, Metal Injection published an interview with Nikan "Siyanor" Khosravi, offering his first public comments since the arrest.

Nikan offers an update on the trial, discusses how he discovered metal and reveals words of encouragement he's gotten from the likes of Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, Arch Enemy's Alissa White-Gluz and even Eminem.